Protez Raises $15 Million in Venture Capital
Posted on: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 21:00 CDT
Aug. 25--Protez Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Malvern start-up working on new antibiotics, has raised $15 million in venture capital.
The company is developing antibiotics to treat drug-resistant and life-threatening infections. Protez said it would use the financing for its lead compound, SMP-601, a potent injectable antibiotic to fight infections in hospital patients.
"This financing represents a significant milestone for Protez," said its president and chief executive officer, Christopher Cashman. "It enables us to rapidly progress our lead compound toward human trials while also advancing the other novel antibiotics in our pipeline."
The company, which now has 15 employees, intends to begin human clinical trials with SMP-601 in 2006. Protez licensed the compound from Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., of Japan, in May.
Protez is working on three different drug technologies, said Cashman, who previously held marketing, sales and management jobs at SmithKline Beecham P.L.C. and Pfizer Inc.
Cashman founded Protez in 2003 after acquiring some promising early-stage antibacterial technologies that emerged from research at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Protez initially received $800,000 from BTG, a venture-capital firm.
Investors in the latest round of financing include: BioAdvance Ventures, Philadelphia, which invests in early-stage biotech and medical companies in Southeastern Pennsylvania; Birchmere Ventures, Pittsburgh, which focuses on early-stage technology and life-sciences companies; S.R. One Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline's venture-capital group; and L Capital Partners, a venture-capital firm in New York.
-----
To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
GSK,
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Related Articles
- Oyster Hotel Reviews Secures $4 Million Second Round of Funding From Bain Capital Ventures
- The Echo Nest Corporation Secures First Venture Financing Round, Lead By Commonwealth Capital Ventures
- National Lampoon Retains American Capital Ventures for Investor Relations Services
- Pluristem Life Systems Hires American Capital Ventures to Provide Investor Relations Services
- American Capital Provides One Stop Financing to Haband Company
- Spock Closes $7M in Series A Funding From Clearstone and Opus Capital Ventures
- ITU Ventures Leads $3.5 Million Financing for Chip Estimate Corporation
- Light Sciences Oncology Completes $35 Million Financing for Late Stage Development of Litx(TM)
- Protez Pharmaceuticals Closes $15 Million Financing to Progress Lead Antibiotic Compound
- Osmotics Corporation Licenses Worldwide Exclusive Rights From BYU for Novel Compounds That Treat Antibiotic-Resistant Infections
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds